De Bilt municipality

Number of inhabitants (1 Jan 2003): 42.311; area: 67,10 km². Settlements:
Bilthoven (seat), De Bilt, Maartensdijk, Groenekan, Westbroek, Hollandse
Rading.
De Bilt is the result of a merger between the former municipalities
of De Bilt and Maartensdijkon 1 Jan 2001.

When sunshine has been predicted and you're hit by hailstones as big
as dove-eggs you blame the weatherman on TV of course. In the Netherlands
we know better: we blame the KNMI (Koninklijk Nederlands Metereologisch
Instituut - Royal Dutch Metereological Institute) in De Bilt.

De Bilt is a suburb of Utrecht, and a new municipality, formed on 1
Jan 2001 by the merger of Maartensdijk en De Bilt, with its seat in Bilthoven.
On 4 Dec 2000 HM Queen Beatrix granted a new Coat of Arms to the to-be-founded
municipality, together with a flag. (Usually it takes several years...).

The Coat of Arms and flag are nearly identical. The yellow - blue diagonal division
is from the old Maartensdijk flag, while the St. Lawrence grill occurred
on the old De Bilt flag and Coat of Arms. The old Oostbroek monastery was devoted
to that saint. It was founded c. 1100 A.D., and demolished c. 1580.
Source: the De Bilt municipal website.
Jarig Bakker, 2 Jun 2003